【英語論文の書き方】第47回　過去分詞で名詞を修飾する場合について論文翻訳・英文校正　研究者専門の翻訳会社　ワールド翻訳サービス

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【英語論文の書き方】第47回　過去分詞で名詞を修飾する場合について

2017年9月6日 10時00分

第46回は
(1) Problematic prepositions scientific writing: by, through, and with
論文でよくある前置詞の間違い3つ

(2) Finding the correct names of scientific equipment and its suppliers実験で使用した器具や企業名などを載せる時の正式名称の探し方
～固有名詞の正式名称を探すときのポイント～

(3) Ensuring the best quality of papers that you submit for publication
最高の品質で論文を発表していただくための校閲者からのメッセージ

をとりあげました。

第47回の今回は

(1) The values obtained or the obtained values: Which word order is correct?
過去分詞で名詞を修飾する場合について解説します。
名詞を前から修飾する場合と後ろから修飾する場合がありますが、どのように使い分けるとよいでしょうか。

(2) Expressions related to success and failure
success と failureの語法について

(3) The different usages of conventional and traditional
Conventionalと traditionalの使い分け。科学論文に適しているのはどちらでしょうか？

QUARTERLYREVIEW (Issue No. 15)

One of our readers recently submitted a question regarding the word order to be used when a noun is modified by a past participle; for example, values obtained versus obtained values. This is a very good question, and we begin this issue by responding to it. As a result of the detailed answer required to answer the question fully, this issue of Quarterly Review is a little longer than usual. We also take a brief look at expressions related to success and failure, and end with a reminder about the words conventional and traditional.

(1) The values obtained or the obtained values: Which word order is correct?

The following sentence appears at the end of item (2) in the Quarterly Review (Issue No. 18): “Table 1 lists the values obtained.” In this sentence, the word values is a noun followed by the past participle obtained. The reader asks whether it is also possible to write obtained values, putting the past participle before the noun. Another example given by the reader is documents reviewed versus reviewed documents. So the question is this: Is it possible to put a past participle that modifies a noun in either position before or after the noun?

As we all know, nouns are modified by adjectives. If a noun (or pronoun) is modified by a participle, the participle is acting as an adjective and is referred to as a participial adjective. Participial adjectives can sometimes be used before the noun they modify, sometimes after the noun, and sometimes in either position. The question of which word order to use with these participial adjectives is, to quote the renowned English grammar expert Michael Swan, “a complicated area of English grammar which has not yet been completely analyzed.” Nevertheless, let me try to shed as much light as possible on this subject. Although both past participles (e.g., reviewed) and present participles (e.g., reviewing) can act as participial adjectives, and their usage is similar, we focus on past participles here to keep the explanation simple.

(a) Past participle before the noun:
The key point to remember is that in most cases, the past participle is positioned before the noun it modifies. In this position, the participle is usually describing a fundamental characteristic or property of the thing(s) referred to by the noun. Therefore, we would write measured values, reviewed documents, a completed project, and so on. In each of these expressions, the emphasis is on the noun (values, documents, or project in these cases), not on the process of measuring, reviewing, or completing.

(b) Past participle after the noun:
Positioning the past participle after the noun is much rarer. When a past participle is positioned after the noun it modifies, there is more emphasis on the process used or action taken to achieve the situation being referred to. Therefore, in the sentence “Table 1 lists the values obtained,” there is more emphasis on the past participle obtained. In this type of situation the past participle is usually functioning as part of a relative clause, although the relative clause may not be written in full. For example: Table 1 lists the values [that were obtained in the experiment].” The part of the sentence enclosed in square brackets is a relative clause, which gives additional information about the values, particularly the process by which the values were obtained in this case. However, if the meaning is clear from the context (that is, if the experiment has already been described), we can simply use the past participle obtained and omit the remainder of the relative clause, which is implied but not actually stated. It is important to note that only a few past participles are normally positioned after the noun (unless they are part of a relative clause written out in full). See (ii) and (iii) below for examples of these participles.

(c) Deciding which expression to choose:
Despite the differences in emphasis described above, there is no clear rule in English specifying whether a participial adjective should be positioned before or after the noun it modifies. It is more of a “case-by-case” situation, in which we have to decide what feels natural in any given sentence. However, here are some examples to help you decide on the word order of some commonly used participial adjectives.

(i)Participial adjectives generally positioned before the noun (*):
reviewed (the reviewed documents, not the documents reviewed)
measured (the measured values, not the values measured)
completed (a completed project, not a project completed)
analyzed (the analyzed data, not the data analyzed)
reported (the reported findings, not the findings reported)
proven (a proven need, not a need proven)
known (a known phenomenon, not a phenomenon known)

(*): Note that all participial adjectives that are generally positioned before the noun can also be positioned after the noun, but in most cases this is only applicable if they are part of a complete relative clause. For example, normally we would write the reviewed documents (past participle before the noun). However, if the word reviewed is part of a relative clause (e.g., reviewed in the meeting), then we would, of course, position the past participle after the noun; that is, the documents reviewed in the meeting. In a few cases we can position the participle after the noun while omitting the relative clause, as described in (b) above, but this mainly applies to the past participles listed as examples in (ii) and (iii) below.

(ii)Participial adjectives generally positioned after the noun:
achieved (the results achieved, not the achieved results)
shown (the methods shown, not the shown methods)
discussed (the issues discussed, not the discussed issues)
concerned (the people concerned [meaning “the relevant people”], not the concerned people [meaning “the worried people”])

(iii)Participial adjectives that can be positioned before or after the noun: (The most common position for these participles is after the noun, but they can also be used before the noun.)
obtained (the values obtained / the obtained values)
researched (the fields researched / the researched fields)
investigated (the areas investigated / the investigated areas)
involved (the parties involved / the involved parties)

The above is only a partial list of some commonly used participial adjectives, but I hope it is helpful to you. To summarize, if you are not sure which word order to use, I recommend that you position the past participle before the noun, except when using the past participles listed in (ii) and (iii) above or when the participle is part of a relative clause that is written out in full, in which case the past participle should be positioned after the noun.

(2) Expressions related to success and failure

The preposition in plus the present participle (the -ing form of the verb) is generally used in expressions related to success; for example, “We have succeeded in measuring X,” “We believe that we will succeed in modeling Y,” and so on. On the other hand, the preposition to plus the infinitive form of the verb is the standard style used in expressions related to failure; for example, “We failed to measure X,” “We fear that we might fail to model Y,” and so on. I hope you will only need to use the former expression in your work, but it’s good to be aware of the style used for the latter type of expression, just in case.

(3) The different usages of conventional and traditional

In scientific fields such as materials science, marine science, environmental science, physics, and so on, the word conventional is usually the best choice of expression, rather than traditional, when comparing something new with something that is pre-existing (e.g., “The new technique is more accurate than the conventional method”). The word traditional is generally used in cultural, anthropological, historical, and similar fields (e.g., “The dissemination of mobile phones has greatly affected traditional modes of communication”).

Until next time, keep up the good work!

Sincerely yours,

Bob Gavey
For World Translation Services, Inc.